Rangers have chance at playoff run because Igor Shesterkin ‘can be unbeatable in the spring’ despite subpar season
With the New York Rangers in Winnipeg set to take on the Jets and their reigning Vezina Trophy-winning goalie Connor Hellebuyck on Tuesday, it’s time to raise the debate of where Igor Shesterkin rates among the best the position in the NHL.
Informal polling of NHL experts by Forever Blueshirts frequently sees the names of Shesterkin and Hellebuyck mentioned as the two best goalies in the sport.
Former Rangers goalie and current TSN and NHL Network Radio analyst Martin Biron knows exactly which goalie he’d select to carry his team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, though.
“In my book, [Shesterkin] is the best goaltender in the National Hockey League,” Biron told Forever Blueshirts recently on the RINK RAP podcast. “He’s the guy that I would want.”
Biron, who knows great goalies, having partnered with Dominik Hasek with the Buffalo Sabres and Henrik Lundqvist with the Rangers, is well aware that Shesterkin isn’t having his best season. But, even still, his faith in the 29-year-old is not shaken.
“Am I saying he’s having the best season this season? No,” Biron stated. “I think Connor Hellebuyck is having the best season. I think Logan Thompson (Washington Capitals) is having a better season. I think Lukas Dostal in Anaheim is having a better season.
“But I would still pick Igor Shesterkin over all of these guys because I know what I’m going to get. And that to me is why the Rangers are never out of it.”
Shesterkin is 21-21-4 in 46 starts this season, already his most losses (21) in a single season since entering the League in 2019-20. He has a bloated 2.89 goals-against average and diminished .905 save percentage, each the worst of his NHL career.
More than anything, he’s been inconsistent. Spectacular one night. Not so much the next. Even within a game, there’s been inconsistency. Brilliant much of the game Saturday against the Ottawa Senators, Shesterkin allowed two goals in the final 10 minutes when unable to cover pucks in the crease during mad scrambles. Then Brady Tkachuk’s game-winning goal 33 seconds into overtime went right between Shesterkin’s pads.
Shesterkin would be the first to tell you he needed to be better there.
Of course, putrid team defense factored into each of those three goals, especially on K’Andre Miller’s atrocious turnover that led to Tkachuk scoring off a 2-on-1.
Ands that’s been the case all season. The Rangers have consistently hung Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick out to dry, and are only within striking distance of a playoff spot at all for the amount of times their goalies bailed them out win games they probably deserved to lose.
If anything, Shesterkin and Quick appear at times worn down by the amount of Grade A chances they face on a nightly basis.
Those are key reasons why the Rangers (31-27-6) are ninth in the Eastern Conference, two points out of the second wild card and three out of the top wild-card spot with 18 games to play.
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Rangers can make deep playoff run because of Igor Shesterkin, Martin Biron believes
Biron’s seen this script before. In his early years at the end of the 1990’s and early 2000s, Biron’s goalie partner was Hasek, who routinely stood on his head to keep the Sabres afloat, even taking them to the Stanley Cup Final in 1999, when they lost to the Dallas Stars in six games.
“Look, Dominik Hasek in Buffalo was the guy behind the team that struggled, that would get out-shot sometimes 40-18 in a game and win 3-2 or 2-1. They even went to the Stanley Cup Final on the back of Dominik Hasek,” Biron explained. “I think the Rangers can go to a Stanley Cup Final and maybe even win the Stanley Cup because of Igor Shesterkin. Now, other parts (of their game) are gonna have to get going and their defensive structure worries me … but they can still get there if he gets hot for 20 games because Igor can be unbeatable in the spring.”
Not that Shesterkin hasn’t been an outstanding regular-season goalie in the NHL — just look at his Vezina Trophy season in 2021-22 when he had a 2.07 GAA and .935 save percentage in 53 games — but he’s really solidified his reputation as a big-game goalie in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He led the the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Final twice in the past three seasons, and without a doubt carried the Rangers within two wins of reaching the Cup Final last spring when they were badly outplayed by the Florida Panthers.
It’s that resume that landed Shesterkin the richest contract for a goalie in NHL history, one that kicks in next season and pays him $11.5 million annually through 2032-33.
But it’s also what has Biron such a believer.
“I have no worries about Igor Shesterkin.”
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